I Chronicles 29:11 "Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty:for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all."

Thursday, January 14, 2010

I lied. I didn’t intend to, but it happened. Do you forgive me? I said (or I alluded to the fact that) we would talk about how to implement discipline, but I thought this was the next logical step.

Why Do We Discipline Our Children?

Heb 12:6-7 “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.(7) If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?”

We discipline our children, because God gives us the example to follow, and He disciplines us, His children. When we do wrong, He chastens, or punishes us so that we learn not to do it again. These verses say that if God has punished you, then you are His child! If God never punishes you when you do wrong, then you are not His child.When we are God’s children (saved), we have His Spirit within us to tell us when we are about to do something stupid and sin. If we listen, we don’t need chastened, because we have not done the wrong thing. When we don’t listen we will need punished because we didn’t obey the warning of the Holy Spirit.

Heb 12:11 “Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”

No one likes to get punished. Often we think it’s unfair and cruel. But, if we submit to it, we will find it has helped us learn to be more like the Savior. It is the same with our children. They don’t like to be punished, but this verse says it teaches righteousness to those who experience it. How much more readily do we learn NOT to do something when we’ve been punished (in a way we can feel) rather than just being told? I know I learned the most from being spanked, more than anything else.

Psa 94:12-13 “Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law; (13) That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked.”

I love these verses! The man who is chastened by the Lord is blessed (happy)! Why? Because he knows God cares enough for him to teach him right from wrong. He has a way to deal with his guilt, and will strive to make things right between him and his Savior. He is also spared from hard times and rough experiences when he listens to the teaching from God’s law. That is a blessing in and of itself!

If we are to follow God’s example in raising our children, then, like mentioned in the verse above, we need to teach them God’s law. Remember, they don’t have the Holy Spirit to guide them. They will depend on the things they have learned from us, and what we expect from them.

Deu. 6:4-7 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: (5) And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. (6) And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: (7) And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”

These verses encourage us to have a relationship with our children. We are to take every opportunity to teach them the things of God. Verse seven pretty much covers every part of our day. When you are in your house, when you are out of your house, before you go to bed, and when you wake up! We have lots of opportunities to share with them the words of God.

Do we do this? Are we using every opportunity to teach them even a small truth from God’s Word? Do we call their attention to nature, and His creative, wonderful hand? Do we remind them when we eat that it is God Who has provided every bite? Are we appropriately thankful, even in hard times?

When we think of it like that, then the verse ‘pray without ceasing’ takes on a whole new meaning. If our day is to be filled with training our children according to God’s Word, we’re going to need to beg Him for wisdom all day long! And if we’re speaking of Him all day long, then we are indeed being diligent.

In order to teach these things, we must know them; which means we need to read and study. We ought to memorize verses related to child training, and things we want our children to know, so when they ask ‘says who’ we can bring them right to a verse and tell them ‘God says’!

It is imperative that we bring everything back to God. We want to develop in our children a love for God, for His Word, a respect for His authority in their lives, and that He is the author of everything. When they see we are constantly talking about Him, showing them His Word, and having Him as an authority in our own lives, it will go that much farther to engrain this truth in them.

In this we can spare them suffering from following the path of sin that we may have traveled before. It isn’t easy, but it is worth every trial and struggle.

Next time we’ll talk about the most important thing to teach our children.